How much are horses worth in this economy?

[KellyHM]

I know the idea of training her and selling her for a show horse sounds great, but honestly I don't think it's very practical. If she was from show lines maybe.

Last year I got 2 8-yr-old Percherons for free. Both were broke with no issues (bucking, etc) and will pull a cart as well. With horses like that going for free I seriously doubt you'll get what you want out of her. Your best bet is to train her and keep her yourself or let her go before putting any more money into her.

 

[KinderKorner]

Yeah. That would be the point of training her. I was going to train her even if I kept her. So I will get her trained. See if I can sell her for what I want. If not I will keep her, and have a well trained horse myself.

 

[bkreugar]

Your plan is fine IF you are o.k. keeping her.If not it is crazy to spend 500 but probably 1,000.00 "training" her.

The market IS bad.I LOOKED for ahorse from June-April.I sat no less than 30 horses.All prices and some were free leases . Prices were between 200.00-2,000.00.But ALL of the sellers were desperete.

In fact the reason I ended up with my mare is because the sellers CONTACTED me. We had some mutual friends who new I was looking for an arab mare.Yea I know I am the ONLY one who seems to like arab mares.

ANyway I saw a lot of green broke barely broke, or even unbroke horses. There is NO NO NO market for them.

My mare is 11 a half arabian pinto and 15.1. She waas good the first time I rode her.But she imtimadated the people who had her. She needed a refresher on ground manners but she was ridable and most I tried were not.

So how much did I pay?
$400.00 DELIVERD.Delivered 90 miles away. They were indeed desperate to be rid of her.Probably because she was 1/2 arab. My mare was very pretty , young,and bombproof on the trail. I called them on the way home from riding her and told them I would not talk them down on price but I wanted her delivered.They said they would be at my house in 90 minutes.

The market IS BAD,I have bought and sold a lot of horses in 20 years, This mare is the least i have EVER paid. When there was slaughter houses she would have been worth more than 400.00.

It's a bad market right now.

On a side nite I gotta say Pat and chickens I am becoming a fan of yours!!!I always seem to agree with your posts!

 

[onthespot]

To put that post into perspective, I just got a quote to move a gelding 60 miles, and she wanted $350. I decided not to get the horse.

 

[michickenwrangler]

First of all, I sympathize, I had to give away my purebred Arab mare after I was laid off from my job. We can still afford one horse, but not two. That being said, it was a purebred mare with a show record, competitive trail miles and achievement award points.

You will not be able to see this mare with minimal training, no show record and attitude issues for $3000. That is what seasoned show horses are selling more, often less. A woman in my area who had knee surgery and can't ride anymore is trying to sell her lovely registered AQHA mare who has shown successfully on the local circuit for $1500. She dropped the price from $2500.

 

[Haviris]

If it was me and you are able, I'd hold onto her until Spring (you can work on the ground work in the meantime), then send her to a trainer for a tune up and sell her then. This a bad time of year to sell.

The bucking would be a big issue to me, I'd much rather buy a horse that's barely halter broke then one w/ a bucking problem. I would consider her worth more BEFORE!

I don't agree that horses are worth nothing, or that none are selling, there are alot of factors that will play into it, but generally a properly marketed, well trained horse should still sell. I recently sold my been there done that 20 year old pony, I had a ton of interest, I ended up removing the ad after about 3 days because of all the calls and emails, she's sold pending pick up (they put down a deposit, and paid for health papers), and have a few others in line if for whatever reason the sale doesn't go through. I had only one person try to haggle on the price because of her age. Because of the time of year I didn't actually expect to sell her, I listed her kind of on impulse, figured someone might be wanting a Christmas pony (I offered to hold her til Xmas for alittle extra).

 

[Haviris]

I really like "window shopping" on craigslist, I'm not currently horse shopping, but did recently buy a new horse (not from craigslist). I've noticed a few things that turn me off when looking and thought I might pass them along in case you deside to list her (now or later).

A horse that is rediculously over priced, major turn off. Now $2000-$3000 for this horse is not really "rediculously" over priced, but it is over priced in todays market, and if I saw the ad as soon as I read about the buckling problem I'd move on w/out looking back. Now it's true that you can always come down, but that brings me to my next turn off...

A horse whose price keeps going down.

Also not enough info, the hrose's age, breed, reg. or not, height, gender, training, and any major issues should be listed! And a picture is worth a thousand words! But a good pic! One that shows the whole horse, preferable squared up. Additional pics are also always a bonus.

I'm sure there are more, but those are what jumps out when I looking around on craigslist.

 

[onthespot]

A few months ago I sold this horse, in this condition, after he was recovered from being stolen, for $2000.

He is a four year old paint gelding with a really bad parrot mouth. I got $2000 for him as is. People do buy horses that are not perfect, but this horse was very kind and did not have any behavior problems, and the lady that bought him knew how he looked before he was stolen.

 

[destiny_56085]

Also consider the fact that only 30 days of training isn't going to work miracles.... Most sucessfull show horses undergo at least 6-8 months with a professional trainer. 30 days might resolve the bucking and refresh the basic groundwork. How much do you really want to stick into the horse ... don't forget to include food, vet, and farrier too.... before you sell it?

 

[Cockadoodledon't]

It is hard to sell right now.
One of my neighbors buys and sells many many horses in a months time. He bought three recently for 150.00 for all three horses! He wasnt going to buy them then, but, the man brought them to him.
I hope it works, but dont get your hopes too high.
Maybe right one will come along looking for just what you have.

Best of luck.